Post-mining lanscapes, and the dynamics and distribution of soil faunal succession

Post-mining landscapes, and the dynamics and distribution of soil faunal succession M.Sc. Jabbar Moradi Abstract Soil biota play an essential role in ecosystem services provided by soil. Here we studied some of the factors affecting soil biota colonization, distribution, biodiversity and conservation values, and their impact on plants' interactions, in reclaimed and unreclaimed (spontaneous succession) post mining sites, located in the spoil heaps after coal mining near Sokolov, Czech Republic, which was summarized in four research papers. Transplant of soil blocks show that despite abundant soil fauna communities in the blocks, they migrate little into surrounding sites, which indicate that access to the disturbed surfaces does not guarantee a successful colonization in the post mining sites where a new soil profile is to be developed. Studying the heterogeneous distribution of fauna under various vegetation patches and sites, we showed that different faunal (i.e., microbial, meso, and macrofaunal) groups' distribution heterogeneity could be partly explained by different explanatory factors and using one set of factors for all the groups would not be powerful enough to create a short-list of the influential elements for each of the faunal groups. Investigating the importance of microtopography, in our..